Whirlwind Chapter 6
The Fires of Injustice
By Danny Asencio
Kalia slept at the Duke's guest quarters that night, and the next morning she immediately set out for Orbonne, to save the orphanage that Delita threatened to destroy was. She traveled for four days straight with little food and little sleep. Along the way she drank nearly ten of the very costly elixirs that she bought at local shops. The elixirs were proven to heal wounds ten times faster and revive a soldier's strength, but Kalia had found many uses for the elixirs. She used them to keep her vitality, which is why, at age fifty-two, she was still as nimble as a teenager. However, the elixirs would eventually stop helping her, as age was a persistent enemy.
Kalia arrived in Orbonne and immediately noticed that something was wrong.
It was the middle of the afternoon, and no one was out shopping, and all
the shops were closed. Then she smelled something strange. She stopped her
chocobo for a second, and immediately her mind placed the smell. It was burning
wood. She kicked her chocobo's ribs and it raced toward where she knew the
old orphanage used to stand. The scene that she arrived at was most unpleasant.
The villagers all stood around the old orphanage, doing nothing to attempt
to put out the fire or help the orphans trapped inside. Kalia could hear
all their screams as they burnt to death, and the stench of burning flesh
assaulted her olfactory nerve. Then someone ran out of the building. She
was still on fire and she rolled all over the floor to put it out. Finally
the flames died, and she simply lay there, weeping in an insane manner. Kalia
ran up to the woman, who had several major burns and she recognized her
instantly. She was Robyn, the caretaker at the orphanage. She was breathing
heavily as she spoke to Kalia.
"Why didn't you arrive sooner…all the children…their screams…burning…. For what…because you became involved…trying to play assassin… for that shit wad…. WHY!"
Kalia simply stared into Robyn's eyes. She recalled what the orphanage had been like in the past. All the war orphans without food or family or a home. Robyn's mother took them all in, including Kalia. Kalia remembered the poverty, and that one-day when a stranger arrived. He offered A large amount of money to adopt Kalia, and then he trained her as an assassin, saying that she came from a family of talented assassins. When Kalia had become a full-fledged member of the assassin's guild, she sent as much money as she could to the orphanage. As she rose through the assassin ranks, she became quite wealthy, and soon the orphanage was able to operate solely on her donations. Then Robyn took over when her mother, who raised Kalia, had died.
Kalia looked into Robyn's eyes one more time. The last of the childrens screams were beginning to die away. The screaming wasn't done for the day.
"DELITA! I WILL KILL YOU! I SWEAR IT…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
After she left the horrible massacre of orphans, Kalia wandered blindly throughout Orbonne for a week. Barely eating, and barely sleeping. Then her wandering brought her in front of a monastery. She stared at the monastery for a long time, cursing God for what had happened. Then, without a word, she left Orbonne for Riovanes.